1960s Timeline

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Jan 8

Outfielder Richie Ashburn to Retire

Jan. 8, 1963 - Richie Ashburn (pictured in 1957) disclosed today that he had retired from active baseball and would broadcast Philadelphia games on color television this year. After 15 years in the majors, Ashburn said he had joined a team of sports broadcasters for the S.W. Ayer and Sons Agency of Philadelphia, which will televise Phillies baseball this season. Asked if this meant his permanent retirement from baseball, he said, “It looks like it.” Ashburn, an outfielder, pl

Dec 11, 2022

Mets Acquire Stallard and Green in Trade with Red Sox

Dec. 11, 1962 - The New York Mets today acquired Tracy Stallard, a right-handed pitcher who threw a historic home run ball (pictured); Pumpsie Green, an infielder who took a not-so-historical trip, and another player from the Boston Red Sox for infielder Felix Mantilla. Mantilla, who batted .275 for the Mets last season with 11 home runs and 59 runs batted in, appears destined for a utility role with the Red Sox. On Oct. 1, 1961, Stallard served the pitch that Roger Maris wal

Nov 12, 2022

Mets’ New Stadium Set to Open in 1963

Nov. 12, 1962 - The New York Mets will start their second year in the National League at the new Flushing Meadow stadium on April 9 against the St. Louis Cardinals, the club said today. The stadium, still under construction, is expected to be completed in time for the start of the 1963 season. Manager Casey Stengel’s Mets, who finished last in 1962, will play two single games with the Cardinals and then leave on an 8-day road trip, returning to meet the Milwaukee Braves on Ap

Nov 9, 2022

AFL’s Titans in Financial Trouble

Nov. 9, 1962 - Milt Woodard, the assistant commissioner of the American Football League, said today the league had loaned the New York Titans enough money to meet the player payroll through tomorrow’s game with the Dallas Texans. He said the loan was “in the area of $40,000.” Woodard also said the AFL expected that the franchise owned by Harry Wismer would be sold within a week. Wismer, who has lost considerable money trying to compete with the New York Giants of the NFL, is

Oct 29, 2022

New Mets Stadium May Be Named after Lawyer Shea

Oct. 29, 1962 - New York City’s new stadium in Flushing Meadow Park, Queens, would be named the “William A. Shea Stadium” under a bill slated for introduction today into the City Council. Mr. Shea (pictured in 1959), a lawyer, was the chairman of Mayor Wagner’s Committee on Baseball. When the Giants and the Dodgers moved to California after the 1957 season, Mr. Shea and his group led the successful move to bring a National League team to New York. The $19 million stadium is s

Sep 30, 2022

Mets Lose Final Game of Season

Sept. 30, 1962 - At Wrigley Field today, the New York Mets lost their final game of the season to the Chicago Cubs, 5-1. It was their 120th defeat, and it left them in the National League cellar, 60 games from the top. The season was concluded after the Mets had been victimized by a triple play in the eighth inning. Had the season been fun? “I would have to say no to that one,” said manager Casey Stengel (right). “It was a rough season for me. I had to get used to losing all

Sep 26, 2022

Mets Biggest Losers in Modern Baseball History

Sept. 26, 1962 - Shed another tear for the New York Mets, who bowed, 6-3, to the Braves tonight and wound up with exclusive rights to another unenviable record. Casey Stengel’s men suffered their 118th defeat. This negative statistic made the Mets the losingest baseball team in modern history. The Philadelphia Athletics of 1916 lost 117 games. Today’s game drew only 3,239 fans, the smallest night-game turnout since the Braves moved to Milwaukee. With Hank Aaron’s three-run ho

Sep 25, 2022

Mets Lose 117th Game

Sept. 25, 1962 - Casey Stengel’s Mets were beaten by Warren Spahn and the Braves today, 7-3. The defeat was the New Yorkers’ 117th of the year, a figure that tied the 1916 Philadelphia Athletics for the most setbacks incurred by a modern team in a single campaign. With four contests remaining, the Mets have an excellent opportunity to gain sole possession of that unenviable mark. When Jay Hook, the Mets’ starter, unleashed a wild pitch in the first inning while facing Henry A

Sep 20, 2022

Mets Set Another Unenviable Record

Sept. 20, 1962 - The New York Mets lost their 115th game tonight. In doing so, the new club tied the National League record for futility set by the 1935 Boston Braves. Fewer than 200 of the 1,481 fans who had seen the Mets lose No. 114 earlier in the day were on hand at the conclusion of the doubleheader with the Houston Colts. The scores were 7-2 and 5-4. One additional statistic on this long, chilly day was that error-prone first baseman “Marvelous” Marv Throneberry (pictur

Sep 15, 2022

Mets Lose Again, Set Records for Incompetence

Sept. 15, 1962 - Faced with the grim realities of extending their one-game winning streak, the New York Mets fell back on habit today and presented 17,534 fans at the Polo Grounds with a full display of their many-faceted incompetence. In the course of losing to the Cincinnati Reds, 9-6, the Mets chased hits and knuckleballs with equal futility, tied a major league record for yielding home runs in a season, and cemented their spot as the first 10th-place team in modern baseba

Sep 4, 2022

Mets Lose, Ashburn Recovered

Sept. 4, 1962 - Richie Ashburn (pictured left with Jay Hook), who crashed against a wall in the first game of yesterday’s doubleheader against the Pirates and played the last four innings while suffering from temporary amnesia, appeared completely recovered today. He went in as a pinch-hitter in the eighth inning and singled. The Mets lost the game, 5-1. The 35-year-old outfielder, who navigated through the last four innings yesterday on reflex and courage, said he still had

Sep 3, 2022

Mets Swept, Ashburn Injured

Sept. 3, 1962 - The Mets lost twice to the Pirates today in a doubleheader that proved a great deal about the remarkable competitive nature of a man named Richie Ashburn (pictured). The scores were 2-0 and 5-4. In the fifth inning of the opener, Ashburn crashed against the right-field wall while trying to catch Bill Mazeroski’s looping fly, lost his memory, and played the last four innings purely on reflex and guts. In an emotional Met clubhouse scene after the game, it was l

Aug 29, 2022

Mets Catastrophic Debut Season Continues as they Drop 100th Game

Aug. 29, 1962 - The saddest episode so far of the Mets’ catastrophic debut season was enacted tonight as the Phillies beat Casey Stengel’s New Yorkers, 3-2, in 10 innings. Don Demeter’s single to center scored Ted Savage, who was running for Wes Covington, from second with the winning run. Thus Savage will probably have the spikes enshrined in the Hall of Fame. For it was his feet that carried across the run that led to the Mets’ 100th defeat of the season. Since 1912, when t

Aug 26, 2022

Dodgers Pound Woeful Mets, 16-5

Aug. 26, 1962 - At the Polo Grounds today, the Mets enacted what appeared to be a taped re-run of their all-summer series, “This Is Our Life.” In losing to the Dodgers, 16-5, New York made 5 errors that led to 12 unearned runs. While pounding 4 Met pitchers for 13 hits, including homers by Willie Davis and Tim Harkness, the Dodgers maintained their two-and-a-half game lead over the Giants. Maury Wills stole 3 bases and brought his season total to 72. The three thefts (two of

Aug 25, 2022

Gil Hodges Night at the Polo Grounds

Aug. 25, 1962 - For the second time in his long and brilliant baseball career, Gil Hodges was hailed as a conquering hero at the Polo Grounds last night before the game between the Mets and the Dodgers. The 38-year-old Met first baseman was the principal figure in Gil Hodges Night ceremonies. In 1957, when he was with the then Brooklyn Dodgers, he played a similar role on Gil Hodges Day at Ebbets Field. “It was a tremendous thrill being honored in Brooklyn,” said Hodges, “and

Aug 24, 2022

Drysdale Beaten by Mets in Shocker

Aug. 24, 1962 - If you were a major league pitcher badly in need of your 23rd victory of the season, chances are you’d welcome a crack at the New York Mets. Don Drysdale of the Dodgers was in just such a situation when he faced the National League cellar dwellers tonight. He probably was the most startled man in baseball when he picked up a defeat. The score was Mets 6, Dodgers 3. Nearly everyone in the vociferous gathering of 39,741 was surprised to see Jay Hook (pictured) b

Aug 24, 2022

Durocher Nearly Dies at Polo Grounds, Saved by Surgeon

Aug. 24, 1962 - A surgeon from Malone, N.Y., arrived in time to save Leo Durocher’s life tonight at the Polo Grounds. Durocher (pictured being transported to an ambulance) had suffered a severe reaction to a penicillin shot prior to the Dodgers’ game with the Mets. “Three or four minutes later and Durocher would have been dead,” said Dr. Wade Hastings, after he had given the 57-year-old coach an intravenous injection of adrenalin to counteract the effects of the penicillin. A

Aug 21, 2022

Throneberry’s Pinch Homer Lifts Mets in Doubleheader Finale with Pirates after Dropping Opener

Aug. 21, 1962 - A pinch-hit homer by — you’d never guess — Marv Throneberry with 2 out in the ninth inning lifted the cellar-dwelling Mets to a 5-4 triumph in the finale of a doubleheader at the Polo Grounds today. Pittsburgh had taken the opener, 8-6. Marvelous Marv’s blast was hit off Elroy Face with two men aboard. Felix Mantilla had singled home a run moments earlier. This four-run assault snapped New York’s losing string at 13 games. Another odd circumstance surrounding

Aug 20, 2022

Pirates Sweep Doubleheader from Mets at Polo Grounds

Aug. 20, 1962 - The Mets, Manhattan’s biggest losers since the Indians, dropped a doubleheader to the Pirates before 8,214 staunch fans at the Polo Grounds today. The setbacks, by scores of 2-0 and 6-3, brought the Mets’ losing streak to 12 and their total for the season to 94. They play two games with the Pirates tomorrow and then five with the Giants and Dodgers in the next five days. If all goes according to form, they should hit 100 defeats by the end of the week. In the

Aug 18, 2022

Stan Musial Honored at Polo Grounds

Aug. 18, 1962 - Stanley Frank Musial, who, his roommate Red Schoendienst says, never snores or even smokes in bed, learned once again tonight that a nice guy with no bad habits and a .333 career batting average can finish first. In a ceremony in which he was repeatedly accused of being great, Musial was honored at the Polo Grounds before the second game of the day-night doubleheader matching the Mets and the Cardinals. In the long baseball history of a city whose teams had pl